Martin felt videos made by user HonorTheCall hurt his business, advised him to “tread carefully”
YouTuber HonorTheCall, who discovered that fellow YouTubers Trevor Martin and Thomas Cassell are the owners of CS: GO Lotto, revealed that he was threatened by Martin after he brought the information to light. CS: GO Lotto has been criticized for allowing under-aged gambling, and is one of many companies cited in a class action lawsuit levied against Valve.
The threat came in the form of a private Skype conversation in which HonorTheCall tried to get Martin’s side of the story. Martin repeatedly tried to “clear things up” with HonorTheCall, even offering to do a collaboration video with him if he dropped any further developments in the story.
Throughout the conversation, Martin accused HonorTheCall of making false accusations, based on his usage of the word “allege.” When HonorTheCall learned that Martin had full access to the site with no oversight, he inferred that Martin could influence winnings, which Martin took to be slanderous.
“You have created a shitstorm based on false accusations and untrue claims,” Martin wrote. “I truly don’t want to escalate things any further. At this point in time I am not going to hold anything against you. I want to keep things friendly and I wouldn’t want to hurt anybody unless it’s a last resort.”
It is unclear what Martin meant by not wanting to “hurt anybody.” Later in the conversation, things got worse.
“This isn’t a joke man,” Martin wrote. “This isn’t a funny game where you can make YouTube videos and stir up some drama and get some attention. You are directly negatively affecting (a) million dollar business (mine and others’), so I would tread carefully.”
Martin claimed that this was “friendly advice,” but HonorTheCall did not buy it.
“You think I took it as a joke?” HonorTheCall responded. “I gave you friendly advice too but but you seem to totally ignore it and you expect me to take it.”
HonorTheCall urged Martin to “come out clean” and apologize to his fans, which he failed to do in spectacular fashion, in what Game Informer has dubbed his non-apology.
“My connection to CS:GO Lotto has been a matter of public record since the company was first organized in December of 2015,” he said in a now-deleted video. “However, I do feel like I owe you an apology. I am sorry to each and every one of you who felt like that was not made clear enough to you.”
In addition to allowing underage gambling, Martin has gotten into some hot water for promoting CS: GO Lotto on his YouTube channel without providing full disclosure that he owned the site.
In one video he refers to Lotto as a “new site” in which he won a $69 pot. He claims that the site offered him a skin sponsorship, and described winning the pot as “the coolest feeling ever.” In no way did he disclose his ownership of the site, which is a violation of FTC guidelines.
Even after the fact, Martin failed to properly provide a disclosure, something HonorTheCall called him out for in the Skype conversation.
“Why don’t you publicly write on your videos or on your twitter that you own csgolotto.com?” he asked. “Why (did you) say collaborated, sponsored? Why not just say ‘I own this site’?”
Martin’s response relied on a technicality that his YouTube channel and CS: GO Lotto were two different entities, declaring “It’s my decision to write whatever I want.”
HonorTheCall has made the Skype logs between him and Martin available to the press. He also published them in part in a video titled “Tmartn, ProSyndicate and JoshOG CS GO Scandal Part 8.”
“I wanted to show the viewers what I went through to bring the story out” HonorTheCall said over email.
HonorTheCall can be reached at honorthecallyt@gmail.com.
Below is the h3h3 rundown of the scandal: